In most criminal cases, Court fees are not levied.
And yet, some of our laws are not consistent with International Legal Treaties which India has signed, and therefore many poor are in jail today.
Poor faces trouble mostly in following area:
1) .........A Court grants him bail on furnishing bond of Rs 50,000/- But he is hand to mouth. He is unable give such bond. So he has to stay in jail.
Now Supreme Court has taken care of this and said, in such case, poor can be released on personal bond. Jail Authorities need to be made duty bound to brought such facts to notice of court.
2)........ When excessive fine is imposed which poor is unable to pay.
Supreme Court has in recent judgement asked lower courts to consider financial condition of a convict while imposing fine.
3) .....,,There are laws that if a person is found guilty, he will be punished with minimum fine of Rs.2 Lakh.
Here, even in case of poor, the court is bound to impose fine of Rs.2 Lakh and he may have to suffer two more years in jail if he cannot pay.
There may be hundreds of such poor. I am told by one client that there are about 20 such prisoners in Central Jail, Sabarmati. But when I asked him to brought their names, he failed to give names.
There may be however many such poor who have no access to legal remedies.
4) ........A person cannot honor a cheque. Therefore he is fined double the amount of check and has to go in jail because of inability to pay debt. This is as per Check Dishonour Law.
Here also, we have a person who may have gone bankrupt after issuing check. He is jailed for non payment on account of poverty.
These situation are not taken care of under present laws which are inconsistent with International Agreements of India.
What is International Treaty which India has signed?
This is known as Geneva Convention. Here India has signed a convention that in our country, we will not keep any person in jail because of his inability to pay debt or decree.
I think there are many laws in India which need to be checked or quashed before some poor can be released from jail.
Poverty is no crime.
Haresh Raichura
27/5/13 15:10